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Oldham Council

CHADDERTON’S Broadway Library is to close in June after a last-ditch attempt to save it failed.

The decision was made just hours after pupils from Yew Tree Primary school presented letters to staff opposing the closure.

Around 1,000 people also signed a petition to save the library which opened in December, 1954.

But a Labour proposal to keep and improve the library on its current location, or provide a better one nearby, was defeated by one vote.

Instead, the ruling Lib-Dem administration argued that the building was costly to maintain and and suffered frequent vandalism.

It will move temporarily to Turf Lane Community Centre, with plans to include a new community room with library facilities on any future development on the current site.

The mobile library will also be situated close to Broadway until October, while the Lib-Dems say that the new £5 million well-being centre in Chadderton town centre will include a library.

Councillor Joy Wrigglesworth slammed the closure saying the young and the old would be hardest hit.

She added: “The closure of Broadway Library would be a travesty and a disaster for the whole community. It doesn’t make any sense.

“The severity of the impact has been ignored. There has been no consultation with the community that uses the library or on the pitiful provision that’s proposed at Turf Lane.”

The Conservatives accused Labour of political point scoring, saying that they too had wanted to close the library while in power, but backed the move to save it.

However, Councillor Dave Hibbert said Labour had wanted to move the library into the health centre in Fields New Road and added: ”The facility is well used, it’s better used than some of the other libraries in the borough.”

The closure of Broadway, along with Stoneleigh library and the mobile library service, was part of the Lib-Dems’ proposal to plug a £20 million budget black hole.

Councillor John McCann, cabinet member for community services and housing, said the council’s finances were in a shambles when the Lib-Dems came to power.

He added: “Geographically it was felt the closure of Broadway would have the least impact compared to other sites in the borough.”

School ‘cock-up’
Plans for a new £30 million Catholic high school were a cock-up, admitted former Labour leader David Jones.

The proposals to build the school on the Meridian Business Centre at Oldham Way caused a storm of protest when they were were put forward in 2007.

And they were described as flawed in a scathing review by the council’s head of corporate governance, Mark Stenson,.

He said there was poor management, a lack of financial planning, the value of the site was unclear and the management board too big.

The school playing fields were to be developed on a railway cutting owned by Network Rail — which could have been worth £4 million.

Eventually, the new Lib-Dem leadership said the site was not deliverable and the diocese agreed to use the former Radclyffe School site in Chadderton.

The new school — a merger between Our Lady’s, Royton, and St Augustine’s, Werneth — is part of Oldham’s £230 million Building Schools for the Future.

Councillor Kay Knox, cabinet member for children, young people and families, called on Labour to apologise.

However, Councillor Jones said officers and not councillors had been criticised in the report and said: “It’s not a conspiracy but a cock-up.

“Perhaps in hindsight the site was one that probably should not have been made an option to the diocese.”

Fight for transport
COUNCILLORS were united in their bid to find funding for an improved transport system.

Plans to bring the Metrolink to the borough failed when majorities in all 10 of the Greater Manchester areas voted against a congestion charge.

Councillor David Jones said: “The majority of people are supportive of improvements but are unhappy with the charging system. Government funding should be made available for improvements in Greater Manchester as it has been in London.

“We should continue to lobby the Government to find funding to make necessary improvements.

“The TIF bid would have brought about a transformation of the transport system. At a time when we are facing a worrying economic downturn and people are losing jobs and the construction industry is fading rapidly, the Government should make investments to kick-start areas that are suffering the most.”

Christie’s cash crisis

COUNCILLORS vowed to back all campaigns which hope to gain compensation for the Christie Hospital which invested £6.5m in Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander bank (KSF) last summer.

Councillor Barbara Beely said: “The KSF bank is British bank which is a subsidiary of a European bank registered in Iceland and subject to the Financial Services Authority regulations.

“Despite this, it is the only bank in the current crisis not to have been given Government support to protect all its depositors.

“The Christie applied to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme for the repayment of the money but it was denied.”

She added: “The £6.5 million represents six months of hard work and fund-raising.”

But Councillor Jean Jones said latest news revealed that Christies would get a large proportion of money back as 80 per cent of it was protected.

Tributes paid

TRIBUTES were paid to former councillors Elsie Shaw and Stanley Skinkis.

Mrs Shaw (91) from Delph was a Liberal Democrat member of Oldham Council for 22 years and Mayor in 1989-90. She was the borough’s longest-serving female councillor.

Councillor John Hudson said: “Elsie had an integrity and a belief in people.”

Mr Skinkis, a Labour councillor for 20 years, died suddenly aged 77.

The father-of-three from Failsworth was described as a family man and a true gentleman who was proud to be a socialist.

Councillor Glenys Butterworth said: “He was a man of great humanity, compassion and dedicated service to others.”

Rubbish plan
WORK on a world-class waste handling and recycling service in Oldham — the first of its kind in the UK — has started.

Arkwright Street will be known as Resource Recovery Centre, and Councillor Philomena Dillon said the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority has signed a 25-year contract with Viridor Laing Greater Manchester Limited.

She said this will trigger a £640 million construction programme, creating a network of state-of-the-art recycling facilities over the next five years and bringing 5,000 jobs in the building trade and the wider economy. These are in addition to 620 jobs at Greater Manchester Waste, which are secured and up-skilled to green collar jobs.

Jobs aim

TARGETS to tackle unemployment in the borough are to be drawn up.

The council is to review its local employment partnership with Jobcentre Plus, which includes work trials, apprenticeships, workshops and job interviews.

Dog control

COUNCILLOR Olwen Chadderton welcomed new dog control orders in public places.

But she urged the council to extend the measures to sports facilities and asked for bins so owners could clear up after their pets.

Flying the flag

FLYING the flag for every occasion — that’s the Oldham Council way.

A public question prompted Council leader Howard Sykes to explain flags-flying policy.

Paul Fryer asked: “Given that 53 per cent of Oldham Metropolitan Borough is in Yorkshire, does the council have any plans to fly the officially recognised flag of Yorkshire outside the Civic Centre on August 1 – Yorkshire Day?”

Councillor Sykes explained that while the council was happy to hoist flags for many countries and organisations, the Civic Centre does not fall in Yorkshire so this would not be appropriate.

He added: “the council has been approached by various organisations to request we fly their flag. If you have a link with this area and you have a flag we will do our best to fly it.”